Serenity

Chapter 92: In the Blood

Jo's POV

I've come to find that waiting is just an abundance of time.

  I wait for people to do the tasks I give them. I wait for results. I wait for death. Okay, maybe that last one was a little over the top. I don't necessarily mean my death, just the death of people. That sounds even worse.

  "Jo, Jo!" Someone yells my name and I'm snapped out of my trance. The pen I was tapping stops, and the room is dead silent. "It wasn't him," Morgan tries to reason but I shake my head, tapping my pen once more. "Don't do that, don't dismiss me," he says angrily and I look up at him.

  "You do realize that I've just made every negative thought he's ever had about me true, right?" I say and he shakes his head. I laugh at his ignorance. "I'm the monster he's always made me out to be, he tried to say I wasn't but I am, there's no denying that." I push past him and walk to the other side of the room.

"He wants you to be happy, it's all he's ever wanted," I laugh and nod. Love, something that feels like such a foreign concept. Granted I did this to myself, I made myself the monster. It was easier then anything I could've hoped for.

"What he wants... that doesn't matter anymore," I say softly and grab a file. For once it's an important one, it's about my dad. "He wants my father dead, he always has. It wasn't about me in the beginning, it was about land, fucking property," I practically throw the file across the table and Morgan looks at it. "It's not gonna bite you."

He gives me one last glance before pulling it toward him and flipping it open. He scans through document on document detailing everything my father has on Tranquility from the moment they entered his radar. "What the hell..." Morgan says under his breath and I sigh.

"Property, money, land and all that bullshit is all this has been about. It's all it's ever been about. Love, want, hate, that just came along with it. It wasn't the cause, it was the effect." Morgan looks up at me. "I realize by doing this," I wave my hands around a bit, "by going off on my own I'm fucking up that statement because somehow I've become the cause instead of the effect," I say and he sighs at me.

"He was drugged... worse than the rest of us. He- he's not gonna want to take any of this as it is. He's going to just dive right back in," Morgan tries to reason and I smile a bit.

"I know where he is Morgan..." I say softly and his face changes. "I..." I take a deep breath. "I've known where he is all this time. Yes, it keeps changing and there's about a three hour window where I don't know where he is, but I know. Right now I could tell you. But, I can't at the same time. Because if I do I betray my family, I betray everything I've worked for." I say and he shakes his head at me.

"Jo this is bigger than that, this is bigger than anything. Do you know how many problems would be solved if he was gone? If he was dead?" He says to me and I sigh softly, putting my hands in my pockets.

"Cause and effect, Morgan. He was the cause and now this is the effect," I say and wrap my fingers around the device in my pocket. I press the button and three men come in, taking Morgan to the secure room. "I am sorry, truly. But you kidnapped me a few times, now you'll be on the other side of it," I say softly as he tries to fight them.

Once he's out of the room the silence takes over. Ringing in my ears refuses to go away. It takes over like a parasite. I sit back in my seat and tap the pen again, trying to figure out what the hell I'm gonna do.

A few hours later...

  "He's awake," a voice says to me and I realize I've been sitting here for hours. "Dean, he's alive also. Which problem would you like to concern yourself with first?" I look at Maia and sigh.

"Dean will be easier. Is he in custody?" She shakes her head and I look down. "Get him in custody, I'll deal with Hero first," she nods and walks away. I push myself away from the safety of the table, tuck my gun into the back of my pants and make my way down the hall to Hero's room.

I wish these doors had windows so I could grasp what I was walking into. The everlasting fear of the unknown creeps into me. I grab the door handle the urge to run comes over me. That's never happened with Hero before.

I push the door open and see him talking to Morgan. He's the only one allowed out of his room and it's only to see Hero. They're borderline prisoners. What have I become?

They both look at me and I give a small smile. "Can you give us a minute Morgan?" I ask and he looks between the two of us before nodding and walking out of the room and shutting the door. "How do you feel?" I ask softly, moving closer.

"Dirty," he says and we both laugh a little. "And sticky," I try to grasp if he remembers what he said. I just can't tell. "Like you said, withdrawals a bitch."

I laugh a little, "Yeah I did say that didn't I?" I watch his face and wait for him to say something. I don't want to do this, I feel like I'm going in an endless cycle with him. Love me one day, hate me the next.

  "So... Morgan tells me we're locked up in separate rooms," he says to me which was not what I was expecting out of that beautiful mouth of his but here we are I guess.

  "Kinda," I say softly and take small steps toward him. "It was easier to treat you that way, and I have the room here I might as well use it," I chuckle a little bit.

  "You don't want us talking to each other, making a plan. I get it, I just wish you trusted us." He looks sad but his eye bags can be from the withdrawal.

  "You should get some sleep," I say softly and start to back away. He notices what I'm doing and he doesn't let it happen.

  "Don't walk away from me, not again," he says a bit forcefully and I sigh softly.

  "What do you want from me Hero? I don't know what to do anymore. I don't know how to make you happy?" I say finally, even though I've definitely said something similar before.

  "I want you Jo! You have been making it unbelievably hard to get you back. I understand why, and your mistakes have gotten in the way but you're the only thing I want Jo," he explains to me and of course I hyper fixate on one thing he says.

  "You seriously think what I did last night was a mistake?" I ask and I watch him sigh as he takes in his own words.

  "You shouldn't have done what you did," he says to me and I just shake my head at him.

  "You're not the one who has to live with it, I am. So Hero, besides undoing all of my apparent wrongdoings, what can I do for you," I say in a bitchy tone and he thinks for a second.

"You could kill your father."